Kanda V, adhyaya 4, brahmana 4

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

1. He proceeds with the curds for Mitra-Varuṇa. Whilst the Sviṣṭakṛt of it remains yet unoffered, they bring a throne-seat for him (the king); for truly he who gains a seat in the air, gains a seat above (others): thus these subjects of his sit below him who is seated above,--that is why they bring him a throne-seat. It is of khadira (acacia catechu) wood, and perforated, and bound with thongs as that of the Bhāratas.

2. He places it (on the tiger's skin), in front of the Maitrāvaruṇa's hearth, with (Vāj. S. X, 26), 'Thou art pleasant, thou art soft-seated!'--he thereby renders it kindly and auspicious.

3. He then spreads a mantle over it, with, 'Thou art the womb (seat) of knighthood!'--he thus makes it (the king's throne) the very womb of knighthood.

4. He then makes him sit down on it, with, 'Seat thee on the pleasant one! seat thee on the soft-seated!'--whereby he says, 'Seat thyself on the kindly and auspicious (seat)!'--'Seat thee in the womb of knighthood!'--thus he places him in what is the very womb of knighthood.

5. Having touched him on the chest, he then mutters (Vāj. S. X, 27; Ṛk S. I, 25, 10), 'He hath sat down, the upholder of the sacred law,'--the king indeed is the upholder of the sacred law, for he is not capable of all and every speech, nor of all and every deed; but that he should speak only what is right, and do what is right, of that he, as well as the Śrotriya (the Brāhman versed in sacred writ), is capable; for these two are the upholders of the sacred law among men: therefore he says, 'He hath sat down, the upholder of the sacred law;'--'Varuṇa, in the home-steads,'--the home-steads are the peasants (clans, people): 'among the peasants' he means to say;--'for supreme rule, he the wise!'--'for kingship' he means to say when he says, 'for supreme rule, he the wise.'

6. He then throws the five dice^[1] into his hand, with (Vāj. S. X, 28), 'Dominant thou art: may these five regions of thine prosper!'--now that one, the Kali, is indeed dominant over the (other) dice, for that one dominates over all the dice: therefore he says, 'Dominant thou art: may these five regions of thine prosper!' for there are indeed five regions, and all the regions he thereby causes to prosper for him.

7. They (the Adhvaryu and his assistants) then silently strike him with sticks on the back;--by beating him with sticks (daṇḍa) they guide him safely over judicial punishment (daṇḍabadha): whence the king is exempt from punishment (adaṇḍya), because they guide him safely over judicial punishment.

8. Thereupon he chooses a boon; and, verily, whatsoever boon he who has been anointed chooses, that is completely fulfilled for him: therefore he chooses a boon.

9. 'O Brahman!' thus he addresses (the priest) the first time^[2], thinking, 'I will first utter the (word)

Brahman, I will speak speech sped by the Brahman:' this is why he first addresses him with 'O Brahman!' The other answers, 'Thou art Brahman! Thou art Savitṛ of true impulsion!'--he thereby lays vigour into him, and causes Savitṛ to be of true impulsion.

10. 'O Brahman!' thus he addresses him the second time. The other answers, 'Thou art Brahman! Thou art Varuṇa of true power!'--he thereby lays vigour into him, and causes Varuṇa to be of true power.

11. 'O Brahman!' thus he addresses him the third time. The other answers, 'Thou art Brahman! Thou art Indra, mighty through the people^[3]!'--he thereby lays vigour into him, and causes Indra to be mighty through the people.

12. 'O Brahman!' thus he addresses him the fourth time. The other answers, 'Thou art Brahman! Thou art Rudra, the most kindly!'--he thereby lays into him (the king) those former energies, and he appeases him (Rudra); and he, Rudra, therefore, is gracious to every one, because he (the priest) appeases him.

13. 'O Brahman!' thus he addresses him the fifth time. The other answers (undefinedly), 'Thou art Brahman!'--undefined means unlimited: thus heretofore he laid limited vigour into him; but now he answers undefinedly; and undefined meaning unlimited, he thereby lays complete, unlimited vigour into him: therefore he answers here undefinedly.

14. He then hails him as one bearing auspicious names,--'Much-worker, better-worker, more-worker^[4]!' Whoever bears such names speaks auspiciously even with a human voice.

15. A Brāhmaṇa then hands to him the sacrificial (wooden) sword,--either the Adhvaryu, or he who is his (the king's) domestic chaplain--with, 'Indra's thunderbolt thou art: therewith serve me!'--the sacrificial sword being a thunderbolt, that Brāhmaṇa, by means of that thunderbolt, makes the king to be weaker than himself; for indeed the king who is weaker than a Brāhmaṇa, is stronger than his enemies: thus he thereby makes him stronger than his enemies.

16. The king hands it to the king's brother, with, 'Indra's thunderbolt thou art: therewith serve me!' Thereby the king makes his brother to be weaker than himself.

17. The king's brother hands it either to the

Sūta (minstrel and chronicler), or to the Governor, with, 'Indra's thunderbolt thou art: therewith serve me!' Thereby the king's brother makes the Sūta, or the Governor, to be weaker than himself.

18. The Sūta, or the Governor, hands it to the Grāmaṇī (village-headman^[5]), with, 'Indra's thunderbolt thou art: therewith serve me!' Thereby the Sūta, or the Governor, makes the headman to be weaker than himself.

19. The Grāmaṇī hands it to a tribesman^[6], with, 'Indra's thunderbolt thou art: therewith serve me!' Thereby the headman makes the tribesman to be weaker than himself. And as to why they mutually hand it on in this way, they do so lest there should be a confusion of classes, and in order that (society) may be in the proper order.

20. Thereupon the tribesman and the Pratiprasthātṛ^[7], with that sacrificial sword, prepare the gaming-ground, (close) by the original fire^[8], with the puroruc verse of the Śukra^[9]. The Śukra is the eater: he thereby makes (him) the eater.

21. With the puroruc verse of the Manthin^[10] they then put up a shed (vimita). The Manthin cup is he that is to be eaten,--thus having first made (him) the feeder, they now make for him one to be fed upon: that is why they put up a shed with the puroruc verse of the Manthin cup.

22. The Adhvaryu then takes clarified butter in four ladlings, places a piece of gold on the gaming-ground, and offers with (Vāj. S. X, 29), 'May ample Agni, the lord of rites, delighted,--may ample Agni, the lord of rites, accept of the butter, hail!'

23. He (the Adhvaryu) throws down the dice, with, 'Hallowed by Svāhā, strive ye with Sūrya's rays for the middlemost place among brethren!' For that gaming-ground is the same as 'ample Agni,' and those dice are his coals, thus it is him (Agni) he thereby pleases; and assuredly in the house of him who offers the Rājasūya, or who so knows this, the striking^[11] of that cow is approved of. On those dice he says, 'Play for the cow!' The two draught oxen of the original (hall-door) fire are the sacrificial fee.

24. He then says, 'Pronounce the invitatory prayer to Agni Sviṣṭakṛt!' And as to why that ceremony is performed between two oblations,--verily, Prajāpati is that sacrifice which is here performed, and from which these creatures have been produced,--and, indeed, they are even now produced after this one;--thus he places him (the Sacrificer) in the very middle of that Prajāpati, and consecrates him in the very middle: that is why that ceremony is performed between two oblations.

Having called for the Śrauṣaṭ, he says, 'Pronounce the offering-formula to Agni Sviṣṭakṛt,' and offers as the Vaṣaṭ is uttered.

25. He then puts the iḍā on (the fire). After the invocation of Iḍā, he touches water and draws the Māhendra cup. Having drawn the Māhendra cup, he sets the chant agoing. He urges him (the Sacrificer) forward to the chant: he gets down (from the throne-seat); he is in attendance at the chant (stotra), in attendance at the recitation (śastra).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The allusions to the game of dice in the early literature are not sufficiently definite to enable us to form a clear idea as to the manner in which the game was played. Sāyaṇa, on our passage (as on Taitt. S. I, 8, 16), remarks that the dice here used consisted either of gold cowries (shells) or of gold (dice shaped like) Vibhītaka nuts. That the (brown) fruit of the Vibhītaka tree (Terminalia Bellerica)--being of about the size of a nutmeg, nearly round, with five slightly flattened sides--was commonly used for this purpose in early times, we know from the Rig-veda; but we do not know in what manner the dice were marked in those days. According p. 107 to the commentators, the game is played with five dice, four of which are called kṛta, whilst the fifth is called kali; and if all the dice fall uniformly (ekarūpa)--i.e. with the marked sides either upwards or downwards--then the player wins, and in that case the kali is said to overrule the other dice. In this case the kali would seem to represent the king. Kāty. Śr. XV, 7, 18-19, however, admits of another mode of playing, by which the kali represents the sajāta (tribesman), whilst the king and those that come after him (in the enumeration in paragraphs 15-20) play the kṛta, &c, To understand this mode, we have probably to turn to Chandog. Up. IV, 1, 4, where it is said of the saint Raikva, that everything good fell to him, just as the lower dice (or casts) submit to the conquering kṛta. Here the commentators assign the names kṛta, tretā, dvāpara, and kali to different sides of the die, marked respectively with 4, 3, 2, and 1 marks (aṅka).--In Taitt. Br. I, 7, 10 the game at dice, at the Rājasūya, is referred to as follows:--With, 'This king has overcome the regions,' he hands (to the king) five dice; for these are all the dice: he thereby renders him invincible. They engage (to play) for a dish of rice (odana), for that is (a symbol of) the chief: he thus makes him obtain every prosperity. He addresses them (with the epithets of) 'far-famed, most prosperous, true king.' The Commentary and Sūtras then supply the following explanations:--The keeper of the dice (akṣāvāpa), having (marked off and) raised the gambling-ground (by means of the wooden sword), and sprinkled it, throws down more than a hundred--or more than a thousand--gold dice. From them he takes five dice and hands them to the king: these, as representing the five regions, are taken to include all those dice. These explanations, so far from clearing up the doubtful points, seem rather to add to them. It may be noted, however, that in the well-known hymn, Ṛk S. X, 34, in which the gambler's state of mind is pictured in very expressive language, the dice of the game are apparently spoken of as tripañkāśa vrāta, or 'the troop of fifty-three' (or thrice five, according to Ludwig's rather improbable conjecture). For other particulars see R. Roth, Zeitsch. d. deutsch. morg. Ges. II, p. 122; A. Weber, Ind. Stud. I, p. 284. According to Goldstücker (s.v. abhishecanīya) this game of dice is intended to symbolize the victory of the present age, or kali-yuga, over the former ages; but the commentator rather takes it as symbolizing the king's dig-vijaya, or victorious sway in every quarter.

[2]:

If it were not for the clear and unmistakable interpretation of the commentators on the Brāhmaṇa and Kātyāyana, one might feel inclined to translate, 'thus he addresses the first--the second,' &c., so as to bring it into accord with the practice of the Black Yajus. This practice is as follows (Taitt. S. I, 8, 16, with commentary).--The priest moves the previously uplifted arms of the Sacrificer down to the Vaiśvadeva dish of curds (cf. above, V, 4, 3, 27), with, 'Thou art Mitra!--thou art Varuṇa!' He then places the khādira throne-seat on the vedi, covers it with a leathern (or fur) cover, with, 'Thou art the navel of the Kṣatra, the womb of the Kṣatra,' and makes the king sit down with, 'Seat thee on the pleasant one, seat thee on the soft-seated!' The king sits down, with, 'May it not injure thee! may it not injure me!' The priest then addresses him, with, 'He hath sat down, the upholder of the sacred law, Varuṇa in the homesteads, for supreme rule, he the wise!' The priests and Ratnins (see V, 3, 1, 1 seq.) then sit down in a circle round the king in. order to do homage to him,--the Adhvaryu being seated towards the east, the Brahman towards the south, the Hotṛ p. 109 towards the west, the Udgātṛ towards the north. The king then addresses the Adhvaryu, with, 'O Brahman, (Om)!' That priest replies, 'Thou, O king, art Brahman, thou art Savitṛ of true impulsion.' In the same way the king addresses the Brahman, 'O Brahman!' and that priest replies, 'Thou, O king, art Brahman, thou art Indra, of true energy!' Then the Hotṛ, who replies, '. . . thou art Mitra, the most kindly!'--the Udgātṛ: '. . . thou art Varuṇa, of true laws!' Thereupon the Brahman hands the sacrificial sword to the king, with, 'Indra's thunderbolt thou art!' He then hands to him five dice, with, 'This king has overcome the regions!' see next note.--The charioteer, treasurer, and chamberlain are invited by the king (to the game?) by auspicious epithets ('far-famed one,' 'most prosperous one,' 'true king'). Thereupon the Hotṛ recites the story of Śunaḥśepa, whereupon follows the offering of the sviṣṭakṛt of the cake of the Maruts, and the dish of curds to the Viśve Devāḥ.

[3]:

Or, he whose strength is the people (viś, viśa),--that is, the Maruts, in the case of Indra, and the subjects or peasantry in that of the king. Sāy.

[4]:

That is, increaser of the prosperity of himself and his people.

[5]:

See p. 60, note *1*.

[6]:

The sajāta would seem to be one of the peasant proprietors or 'sharers' constituting the village 'brotherhood' ruled over by the headman, and often actually belonging to the same family as the latter (Gaugenosse, clansman).

[7]:

The first assistant of the Adhvaryu.

[8]:

That is, north of the Āhavanīya fire, where the cart stands, containing the original (hall-door) fire.

[9]:

For this verse (Vāj. S. VII, 12; Ṛk S. V, 44, 1), preceding the ordinary formula with which the Soma-cups are drawn, see IV, 2, 1, 9 (part ii, p. 280).

[10]:

Vāj. S. VII, 16; Ṛk S. X, 723, 7; see IV, 2, 7, 70.

[11]:

Thus (not the slaying) according to the commentary on Kāty. Sr. XV, 7, 20, hantiś cāhananamātro na māraṇārthaḥ.--The cow is the one staked by the tribesman (sajāta).